Movies Features

The Unseen Movie Review - Jackass 3D

By Robert Dixter Oct 15, 2010, 15:31 GMT

Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O are back in the latest adventures of the infamous stunt idiots.  Says Knoxville, “We\'re going to take the same 3D technology James Cameron used in AVATAR and stick it up Steve O\'s butt.  We\'re taking stupid to a whole new dimension." ...more

What’s so funny about a guy getting kicked in the nuts? If you’re a kid it’s very funny. If you’re a grown man, it’s still very funny. It’s like watching an animal bite someone. If they bite the person on their butt, it’s hysterical, but if they bite anywhere else then it’s just gruesome.

The whole idea of slapstick comedy where people injure other people is only funny if the intent is not malicious. That’s what makes the Jackass crew so funny. They’re not doing what they do because they want to hurt the other person, they’re doing it because they honestly feel it’s funny.

I remember first hearing about their show on MTV and thinking this is a terrible idea. Why would I want to watch amateurs trying to do stupid stunts? But like watching Liza Minnelli make out with David Gest, there’s something joyous about the Jackass crew, they make what they’re doing seem like the dumbest idea in the world, but only they could think of it and only they could pull it off. It’s this good humored approach that makes it so much fun to watch them and their pranks. They never get mad when a prank is played on them and they never get upset when they get injured on a stunt. (Imagine Christian Bale on a Jackass stunt gone wrong.

If you think he was tough on the cinematographer from Terminator).  It’s probably some of this upbeat positive attitude that has made young people think they can copy the stunts, but no one can pull it off like Jackass. All the copying has done is just led the producers to issue a very stern warning not to try this at home. You would have to be pretty stupid to try and replicate the Jackass stunts but you would never even come close to being able to do them with this much humor anyway.

I recently saw an interview with ringleader Johnny Knoxville who said that it seems 3D was invented for them. He’s right. I would much rather watch dumb guys doing dumb pranks in 3D than check out a bad adventure film that was turned into a 3D mess in post. The closer you can get to the Jackass crew and their hysterical ideas the better. Just maybe not too close to Ryan Dunn, that guy just seems a little off. But imagine being able to see Wee Man fly through the air in 3D?

I’m quite sure my wife has about as much interest in seeing this film as she does in watching me relive the college days with my friends in Vegas, so I’ll be flying solo this weekend. But it would be very hard to pass up catching up on Knoxville, Margera and all their friends especially in 3D.